As we all know, vitamins are vital nutrients that our bodies need to work properly. Depending on which vitamin, a lack of them in our body may be the cause of a weak immune system, fatigue, tiredness, bodily functions not working properly – not to mention the development of serious illnesses, like diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure etc.

That principle of making sure to absorb enough vitamins to strengthen the body can also be applied to our soul and spirit.

I can definitely tell when I’ve been “junking out” mentally and spiritually and haven’t been giving my soul the proper nourishment that it needs! I feel like I don’t have enough strength to do the things I want to do, I feel more burdened and I get irritated more easily.

With this post I’d like to share a little bit about what has been going on in my life and what I’m learning, in the hopes that it will encourage you if you are facing something similar!

In “our tribe” of difference makers, life is a lot about doing things, implementing projects and working hard to make a difference in whatever way we feel called to. Yet, it is also closely connected to who we are as a person and our personal lives have quite an influence on how much we’re able to give and do!

So here’s my story…

These past two months have been turbulent ones for me. Things in my personal life have changed drastically, bringing with it great emotional distress. I’ve also relocated to another area recently.

“Every time someone chooses compassion over indifference, good has triumphed and the world is different.” – Anonymous

Today, I’d like to introduce you to Mauro. His story is a story of the triumph of kindness and compassion over carelessness, indifference, and cruelty – of people that care for the unwanted and mistreated with respect and dignity, people that value and treasure life, no matter how it shows up.

Although he’s no longer around I feel compelled to let the world know about Mauro’s story. It demonstrates how even one little act of kindness can make a whole lot of difference in the world. These simple, seemingly small acts are what change the world – in ways we might not even imagine!

Some of the statements that I hear often in my world are about how bad of a state our world is heading towards. How good the old times were. How today’s world is on a speedway heading for destruction, with all the fast changes, global challenges, environmental problems.

What a paralyzing, frightful, disheartening realization. For sure, watching the news every day, browsing Facebook and Twitter updates from people, listening to what people say one might easily come to that conclusion. We hear about children being abused, abandoned and used for child labor. Women’s rights in different countries are non-existent. The rainforest gets smaller every day. Certain animal species are becoming extinct. Poor people are everywhere, and the gap is getting bigger between the rich and the poor. Millions and millions of refugees are flooding the Western countries. There are millions of people, young and old, that are illiterate and have no possibility to access education that would help them out of their misery. And not to mention the tragic stories of sickness or family tragedies in our neighborhoods. Yes, this all sounds pretty bad.

Today I want to share with you an experience I’ve recently had that taught me the importance of making sure our cup is always filled to the brim.

Rewind to about a month ago when I decided I was going to travel and spend some time in Austria (where I originally come from) with my adorable nieces and family. I love seeing them all but I usually go there with mixed feelings. Mixed because on one hand, I love to be fully immersed in their lives and what’s going on when I’m there. On the other hand, I quickly get tired physically (and I’m only 35 at this point in time!) and mentally because I find myself fully immersed in the constant-on-demand situations that present themselves there.

The other day I was thinking about the fact that people who want to make a difference usually have a lot of drive and gumption to do things, to make them happen and to have the impact that they so desire to see in the world. They recognize the needs, they know their vision and calling, and they just want to go and do what they feel should be done! (I know because I’m one of them :))

With this busyness and drive to make things happen, the “who” of us and the “why” of what we do can easily get blurry and out of focus. And yet, these two are the most important factors in the equation that leads to sustainable success in our endeavors.

I think this describes what many of us changemakers experience in our daily lives!

By Mick Mooney, author and artist

“The whole world works in such a way that we are continually dragged away from our hearts to live in our heads. The problem with this is that our heads make decisions largely influenced by a mixture of fear and the pursuit of a comfortable, safe life. But our hearts are the fearless kind, our hearts are adventures of the best kind, and our hearts want far more than comfort–they want to do things we were born to do.

It is our hearts that hold the revelation of what will make us truly happy, and often our heads, with good intentions, pull us away from that life to live the ‘safe’ life instead.

Sometimes people ask me how one can recognize a calling. This little post is a short summary of what I usually share with them when asked this question.

Whereas there are some who experience the revelation of their callings as those magic “when-the-whole-world-stood-still” moments, most people never have a euphoric, highly-emotional, “thunder and lightning” experience when it comes to recognizing what they’re supposed to be doing. I like to call it the “silent” calling. It’s an inner knowing, a conviction, a still small voice that comes from deep inside. You listen within you and there’s this sense of knowing you just have to do a certain thing. Kind of like an invisible arrow pointing towards a certain direction.

Another characteristic of a calling is that, even though it might have been put by us on the backburner for some time due to life events or us being scared of accepting it, for example, it takes very little to blow the ember and make it come alive again. It doesn’t go away even if suppressed.

What about you? How do you experience calling and how do you know it when you’re called?